Yuri's mother sat at the kitchen table, pouring a glass of orange 
juice. Next to her, to pieces of toast were neatly laid out.

She looked at her watch. "Five..four..three..two.."

And the blur of motion that was her daughter flew through the 
room, muttering something that could be compared to, "I'm gonna 
be late!"

She quickly gulped down the glass of orange juice and grabbed the 
toast before flying out the door.

"Yuri, dear, if you aren't careful your ankle will get worse, not 
better!" she could barely hear her mother say as she sped off to 
school.

When she reached the school hall, she paused. Plastered all over 
the halls were identical posters heralding the "Ascension to 
Darkness Back to School Dance."

"'We at the fine establishment of Evil, Dark Heart High, hereby 
invite all members of the student body to engage in a night of 
fun, welcoming newcomers to this school.'" Yuri paused. "Wai! A 
dance!" She then continued reading, "'The rules will be as 
following: Rule Number One: All students are required to attend. 
AND THIS MEANS YOU, SENIORS. Rule Number Two: All students are 
required to have fun.'" Yuri then skimmed down the list. Most of 
the rules were predictable and similar to what rules the school 
normally had in place. She stopped when an odd rule caught her 
eye. "'Rule Number Twenty-six: No wholesome dancing allowed'? 
.Wow, they really are anti-goodness here."

*************************************************

          Dark Heart High

   Netherworld Educational Institution for
      The Universal Propagation of Evil
          started by Mads

*************************************************
Part 10: Anticipation!
by Ann
*************************************************

"I'll show them this time!" Craig muttered to himself as he and 
the rest of his class waited for first period to begin. "They'll 
see my true evil cunning when they see my homework. Truly one of 
my best works ever!" Craig then launched into an evil laugh. An 
evil laugh that was cut short in the middle to turn into a 
strangled yelp as a small, black creature darted into the room 
and grabbed his homework for a snack. "Nooo! It's..Not..Fair!" he 
cried over and over, punctuating the words by banging his head on 
the table.

A moment later, Yasuko pranced into the room in a leather 
cheerleading uniform. "Has anyone seem my pom-pom? It escaped." 
She then saw the small black creature feasting on paper. "There 
it is!" She went over, grabbed the creature, and pulled the few 
scraps of paper that we're remaining away from it. She read the 
name from the top of the paper. "Craig Mainsworth! How DARE you 
try to feed paper to my pom-pom! You will pay for this!"

"I will pay for this? Oh, no. I certainly will not! It was your.. 
your.. MONSTER that ATE my PRECIOUS Homework!"

Yasuko was about to retaliate when Kurosawa entered the room to 
signal the beginning of class. All of the students quickly sat 
down and quieted, so not to risk her wrath. 

Kurosawa-sensei cleared her throat. "Class, as you all have seen 
posters for in the halls, there will be our annual Back to School 
dance this Saturday. I am sure you all paid great attention to 
the rules listed so there will be NO behavioral problems," she 
eyed certain members of the class. "Each class will elect two 
outstanding villains to be the Dark Princess and Dark Knight of 
the class, with the whole seniors electing the Dark Queen and 
Dark King. The first leg of the voting will be held today to 
decide what students will make it to the final vote, which will 
be held tomorrow. The voting today will take place after the pep 
rally. The pep rally will be after lunch."

At this point, the excited whispers were growing rapidly. 

"Silence! There maybe a dance on Saturday, but this is class. I 
have already explained all that you need to know about it, so any 
talk of it will have to wait until AFTER this class has ended." 
She then turned and started writing in an archaic language on the 
board.

Ki quickly scribbled a note asking Yuri to accompany him to the 
dance. He aimed, and tossed it quickly through the air. 
Unfortunately for him, Kurosawa-sensei chose that particular 
moment to turn around.

"Ki Tamaida!" she said as she grabbed the note. She crushed it in 
her hand and threw in the trash. "Passing notes is not permitted! 
You will see me after class!" She then continued with a lecture 
on archaic curses to use on one's enemies.

Finally, she finished her lecture. "Now, I will be coming around 
to pick up your homework." And each student presented his or her 
homework. Until she got to Craig.

"Mr. Mainsworth, your homework?"

"I.. um.. I had it done! Yasuko's pom-pom ate it!"

"Your homework. was eaten. by a pom-pom?" 

Craig was visibly nervous. "H-hai, sensei!"

".Mr. Maimsworth, in all my years of teaching, that has to be the 
LAMEST excuse that I have ever heard. You will receive a zero."

"Ah, dragonturds!"

*

"Hey, Ki, I heard you got in trouble with Kurosawa!" said Midori 
in a taunting voice as she came up from behind him.

"Glad to see my dear cousin is so concerned," Ki replied with a 
wry grin. He stopped to open his locker for a textbook. "But it 
could have been worse. Luckily, I only have to write a report."

"A report? Wouldn't it be a shame if poor little Ki had to stay 
home to do homework instead of dancing all night with little 
lover girl?" Midori teased.

Ki sighed. "You know as well as I do that I only need her for my 
plan."

"So, what do you have to write the report on anyway?"

"Transylvanian Flesh-Eating Mutant Slugs," he replied. 

Midori grimaced. "Oh, those are my favorite," she said 
sarcastically. "But you better not get all weak and book-wormy 
from all your punish work!"

"Yes, yes. I know, you need a strong opponent."

"Hey, look over there! It's little Yuri-chan, and she's all alone 
with Bala-kun! Better hurry before HE asks her out!" Midori gave 
a last tease before disappearing into the hall's crowd.

Ki rolled his eyes and set off towards Yuri.

*

"Ok! And now we need to add ..Um, I'm not sure how to pronounce 
these chemicals!" Yuri said cheerfully. She, Bala, and Leilei 
were all working together on their acid for death traps. 
Apparently, villains took this aspect very seriously, and had 
written out a very specific formula for the perfect blend.

Leilei grabbed the list from Yuri and skimmed over it herself. "I 
don't blame you! These chemicals all have weird names!" She then 
scanned the labels on the vials in front of them. "Actually, 
we're missing most of these. Bala-kun, could you please go up to 
the teacher's desk to ask for more?" 

Bala nodded, took the list, and walked to the desk.

"So, can you wait for the dance this weekend?" asked Leilei, 
excitedly.

"I can't! I just wonder who I'm gonna go with.. No one's asked me 
yet."

"Don't worry; I'm sure someone will," Leilei smiled knowingly. 
"But will your ankle be up to a dance by then?"

"Hai! I can feel it getting better by the day!"

Leilei giggled. "You're so excited about it that I don't think 
even two broken ankles would stop you!"

Yuri grinned. "This is going to be my first high school dance!"

"Hmm..." Leilei grinned mischievously. "I know someone who wants 
to ask you out!" she sang out.

"Really? Who?" Yuri said, excitedly.

"Not my place to tell!" Leilei giggled.

"No! Tell me! Please!"

"Nope! Ooh, but don't look now, here's Ki!"

And Yuri turned around to see the member of the Steel Thorn Clan 
walking their way. 

"Hello, Ki-kun!"

"Hello. May I copy your lab instructions? My.. partner," he said 
the word with much disgust, "has already managed to destroy 
ours."

"Oh! No problem!" Yuri handed him the lab sheet. "So, who's your 
partner?"

Ki paused from copying the lab sheet. "Craig Maimsworth," he 
sneered.

"Poor you!" said Leilei. 

Ki quickly finished copying the instructions.

"So, Yuri," he started, "do you have a d-" He was then 
interrupted by a loud explosion. 

The three of them, along with the rest of the class, looked up to 
see Craig surrounded by fire.

"I had better go help," Ki muttered before rushing off.

"...In all of my career, you are the first person I've ever seen 
manage an explosion and fire while trying to make an acid!"

"Gomen, sensei!"

*

Yuri was just about to sit down for lunch when Craig rushed up to 
her.

"Yuri! My, your hair looks pretty today! Would you like to go 
with me to the dance?" he asked, desperately.

"I'm sorry, Craig.. I was sorta waiting for someone else to ask 
me," she replied.

Craig turned. "Well, what about you, Leilei?"

"Uh.. Thanks but no thanks, Craig."

"Where am I ever going to find a date?" Craig moaned before 
catching site of Midori talking to Ki. He then rushed over to 
them.

"I guess there's no way I can go with her. Eating lunch with him, 
he must have already asked her," Ki was saying to Midori.

"Tough luck," she grinned. "So, who will you go with?"

"I had best be close to their group, at least. I'll ask out 
Leilei."

It was then that Craig reached them.

"Oh, beautiful sempai! Would you go to the dance with me?" he 
asked Midori.

"I already have a date," she said bluntly.

Craig turned and looked at Ki. "...Nah. I'm desperate, but not 
THAT desperate." He then looked around, and spotted another 
carrier of two X chromosomes and was off.

He rushed to the beautiful senior with the Ingram gun.

"Ingram-chan! Will you go with me to the dance?"

She paused a moment, looking him over in disbelief. Then, she 
started laughing. And she didn't stop. She didn't even stop as 
she walked off to join Kashin. Even then, Craig could still hear 
the echo of her perfected roaring-bitch laugh.

"Aw.. Dragonturds! This has not been my day!"

*

When lunch ended, there was much shrieking and chaos, signaling 
the beginning of a Dark Heart High pep rally. In the swarm of 
students human and non, Yuri, Bala, and Leilei found themselves 
to be separated. 

Leilei then found a familiar face next to her. It was Ki.

"Hey, Leilei. You found a date for the dance yet?" he said over 
the crowd's roar.

"No, not yet!" she shouted her reply so he could hear.

"Wanna go with me?"

"Sure!" she said, just as the crowd pulled her off in a different 
direction.

Ki used all of his training to cut through the crowd as fast as 
he could. By pure luck, he ended up sitting next to Yuri.

She tried to say something to him, but by that point the roar of 
the crowd was too loud for her to speak over. She just shrugged, 
smiled, and they both turned their attention to the rest of the 
gym.

Suddenly, everyone fell silent as the most evil, most nefarious, 
most villainous strain of pipe-organ music that they had ever 
heard wafted through the air. Everyone looked around to find 
where it was coming from until the finally saw Amakusa playing 
the pipe organ in the corner. Out of either respect, fear, awe, 
or any combination of the above, all of the students silently 
waited for him to finish.

As soon as he finished, the Dark Heart High cheerleading squad 
pranced to the center of the gym.

They were all clad in black leather cheerleading uniforms. All 
also seemed to be staying as far away as they could from Yasuko, 
the only freshman and captain. Actually, with the way they were 
acting towards her, one could almost come to the conclusion that 
they were fearful.

But this crew of seven was a strange group indeed. Out of the 
seven, three were obviously non-human. One was a cat girl who was 
more cat then girl. She rested on all fours. Another had a snake 
tail instead of legs. And the most noticeably nonhuman was the 
large, squid-like girl with many huge tentacles that she waived 
about, each carrying a pro-spirit sign.

They all got into a typical cheerleading 'V' formation.

"Ready? OK!" Yasuko shouted. And they all went into a series of 
kicks and leaps (well.. the ones that could did, at least) while 
chanting their cheer.

"Dark Heart High! Dark Heart High! Other Schools Will Die! When 
They Face Us!
Dark Heart High! Dark Heart High! Don't Even Wonder Why! We'll Be 
Victorious!
We're the Toughest, the Meanest, And We Don't Fight Fair! We'll 
Kick You in the Groins And Pull Out Your Hair!
Dark Heart High! Dark Heart High! Other Schools Will Die! When 
They Face US!"

And they all leapt around, cheering as the crowd wildly joined 
in. Each cheerleader struck a pose as the tentacled one picked 
all of them up and rotated them around in the air. 

As soon as the crowd's roar died down and the cheerleaders were 
placed on the ground, Yasuko graciously presented a microphone to 
Amakusa.

"Hello, young explorers into the wonderful world of Villainy. As 
per our school tradition, ballots will now be passed to all of 
you so you may vote your top choices for students of your class 
who represent villainy at it's best. You may choose three and 
only three people, and they must be from your grade. Any attempts 
at cheating... Will be handled," he grinned. "Let the voting for 
the semi-finalists begin!"

And ballots and pencils were passed out. At first there was a 
dull
whispering, but with one look from Amakusa, even that was 
silenced. 

Finally, all of the ballots were collected.

Bala looked over across the gym, to where he finally spotted 
Yuri. And she was sitting next to Ki. The two of them were 
talking. It was times like these that Bala resented not speaking. 
All of the many attempts he had made at asking out Yuri had 
failed simply because he could not speak. And now that Ki had 
been with her the whole pep rally, Bala just KNEW that the other 
boy had taken his chance and asked her out. Bala then turned to 
the random girl who was sitting next to him. He blinked.

"Oh, you don't have a date either?"

He blinked again at her.

"I'd be happy to go with you!"

*

As soon as school ended, Yuri rushed off to the Fencing Practice. 
Luckily for the team, everyone made it on time.

"Ok. Today, everyone," Kashin started, "we will first watch a 
video on techniques." He glared at his team when nearly all 
members groaned. Once his glare silenced them, he continued. "It 
is NOT boring. And after watching it, we will practice the moves 
that it will show us. Follow me!"

And he led them to a small room under the gym floor where there 
were many chairs and a tv set up. Everyone grabbed a chair and 
the movie was turned on.

About ten minutes into the movie, Kashin grabbed the hilt of his 
sword and in a fast motion was next to Craig. Just as gracefully, 
he slammed the hilt down onto Craig's head.

"If anyone will sleep, they will sleep on MY terms."

No one else found themselves even slightly bored for the rest of 
the video.

*

Authors Notes: 

This part was fun to write! I hope it wasn't too bad, though. I 
enjoyed it, at least..

I would like to thank Nicholas Juzda and Sharyna Tran, who helped a 
lot with ideas and would have pre-read had I got it to them in 
time. ^.^;; Sorry about that, guys.

I also thank Lurker-chan, who pre-read for me last minute!

And I end on this note: Sign Up For DHH! Don't Skip, And Write 
Well! (Better then me, at least, which isn't hard!)

*

Yasuko slowly walked up to Kashin, who was still slightly sweaty 
from the fencing practice that had just ended. She was shaking 
her hips slowly for all that she was worth.

"Hello, Kashin-sempai," she said in her breathiest voice. She 
then leaned back on a locker, sticking her chest out as far as 
she could. 

"Would you," she winked and grinned seductively, "care to escort 
me to the dance?"

He looked her over once and grinned. He saw the raw confidence in 
her eyes.

And then he laughed at her, right into her face. He then 
proceeded to walk off, still laughing.

Yasuko was still standing there in her ridiculous pose in shock a 
minute later when Craig found her. 

"Yasuko-chan! Would YOU go to the dance with me?" he asked 
eagerly.

She froze, then regained her composure. "Not if you were the last 
boy on earth!" She then strode off arrogantly, doing her best 
bitch laugh.

He glared at her retreating form and muttered, "..Your laugh is 
still only worth a C+!"

Suddenly, another figure appeared next to him.

"So, you don't have a date yet?" Liza asked eagerly. "In that 
case, I'm  just the person that you need!"

"You'll go with me?" he asked, excitement lighting up his eyes.

"HECK no. But I AM running a special on animated blow-up dolls!" 
she said cheerfully.

Craig cast his eyes down in defeat. "All right. How much?"